In partnership with Hyperallergic, Jack Shainman Gallery's The School is hosting this special conversation with Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. and Akua Njeri, moderated by Seph Rodney. This event will be presented on Zoom and broadcast live on Wave Farm's WGXC 90.7-FM. Fred Hampton Jr. is the current Chairman of the Black Panther Party Cubs (BPPC) and the son of Fred Hampton, former Deputy Chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party. Activist Akua Njeri (formerly Deborah Johnson) is a writer, activist and former member of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party who in 1969 was engaged to Hampton. Together, Hampton Jr. and Njeri have worked to create and launch the campaign to Save The Hampton House. The Black Panther Party Cubs and a larger coalition of supporters aim to make the childhood home of Chairman Fred Hampton a museum to tell the true story of the Black Panther Party and defend its legacy. Among other community services, The Hampton House Garden and Feed the People campaign provide a refrigerated outdoor community pantry, making fresh food available in a food desert.

The School is a 30,000-square-foot former high school in Kinderhook, NY. It was founded in 2013 with the mission of presenting ambitious, large-scale exhibitions that shed new light on artists working both within and outside of Jack Shainman Gallery’s program. Its curatorial vision is guided by a desire for creative exploration and cultural exchange, offering a unique platform to examine everything from the entire breadth of a single artist’s career to the oftentimes unexpected cross-pollination that exists between artists working across media, disciplines, regions and centuries.